Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean:
Back in July 2017 and I was taken to the emergency room due to extreme pain in my back and lower limbs. At the emergency room, the physician found evidence of two bulging disks intervertebral disks L3/4 and L4/5. That year I managed to come back to Queen¿¿s and finish my forth year. Although I did experience some pain, I could still walk to all my lectures and complete all my assignments and tests. However, this past semester, I experienced a dramatic increase in my pain levels. Due to the level of debilitation from the pain, I would like to request consideration for appealing my three academic courses: KNPE 335, ANAT 315, and PSYC 370.
This past semester has been extremely tough for me. In the beginning of October and mid-October I had to extremely painful spasmodic episodes. During both episodes I was unable to move, as my hips and back had gone into spasm. I was in such a state of agony that I could not lie comfortably in bed nor fall asleep. At that stage, I went to the ER and was given muscle relaxants, an anti-inflammatory, and hydromorphone.
During the course of this was being treated by the Kingston Orthopaedic Pain Clinic by pain specialist Dr. Zamora. He was treating me with epidurals, which were injected in the capsular space of the vertebrae for the effected disks. Our hope (i.e., my pain specialist and I) was that I could be treated using this conservative method and altogether avoid surgery. However, the epidurals only lasted about 2 weeks and after that I would begin to experience the same pain severe pain again.
Despite the efforts to try and reduce the pain, the pain has begun to get progressively worse. I am now unable to walk more than a couple hundred meters to get to class or the library. I cannot sit for long durations time, sitting in class or studying, as I find it extremely painful to stand up and walk. If I do, I begin to limp and my posture become extremely disfigured. Furthermore, with the change of the weather, I am now more fearful to leave my apartment, as my muscles are now very weak. The fear of falling and slipping on the ice is a major concern of mine, and it has prevented me from leaving my apartment.
Due to the lack of benefit from the epidurals, I have been referred to the orthopaedic surgeon at the Kingston orthopaedic pain. My surgeon and I will be going over my surgical options. In addition, I will be seeing the Vancouver Spine Clinic, in my home city, to discuss what my options are as well. I am assuming due to the severity of my case, I will need a discectomy to remove the part of the disk that is impinging the nerve.